Automobile carpet



Oct. 20, 1959 E BELK 2,909,234

AUTOMOBILE CARPET Filed March 9, 1959 INVENTOR. 2994 All 554% United States Patent AUTOMOBILE CARPET Earl H. Belk, Long Beach, Calif. Application March 9, 1959, Serial No. 798,260

2 Claims. (Cl. ISO-90.6)

The present invention relates to a new and novel replacement carpet for use in the interior of automobiles.

It is well-known that the front and rear automobile carpets provided as original equipment in new automobiles is subject to damage both from wear and from inadvertent causes. Accordingly, there have been heretofore proposed replacement carpets for those supplied as original equipment. These replacement carpets have been packaged for use in a particular make and body style of automobile and stocked both by automotive accessory dealers and shops providing carpet replacement service. Such replacement carpets are generally precut to the proper size for the particular automobile make and body style required.

While it has been previously possible to stock a single replacement carpet that would fit several year and body types of a particular make of automobile, in recent years each make of automobile has required several types of replacement carpets for its various body styles. This necessitates that the automotive accessory dealers and service shops stock an increasingly large inventory of such replacement carpets This has also necessitated an increased unit cost for the replacement carpet, resulting from the necessity of providing separate tooling for fabricating the large number of individual patterns of replacement carpets.

It is a major object of the present invention to provide a single carpeting blank which may be utilized with several automotive body styles to thereby overcome the aforementioned disadvantages.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a single carpet replacement blank having a front side exposed to view and a reverse side that bears a plurality of sets of cutting lines, each such set indicating portions of the blank to be cut out so as to provide a floor mat for a particular automobile body style.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a replacement carpeting blank of the aforedescn'bed nature wherein said sets of cutting lines are imprinted on the blank in lines of differing characteristics whereby each character of line may be keyed to a particular automobile body style.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the appended drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a carpeting blank embodying the present invention as it appears when sold by the manufacturer;

Figure 2 is a perspective view'of said carpeting blank after it has been prepared for installation in an automobile; and

Figure 3 shows a code arrangement utilized with said carpeting blank.

Referring to the drawings and particularly Figure 1 thereof, there is shown a carpeting blank embodying the present invention. This carpeting blank 10 consists of a sheet of conventional automotive carpeting material, such as a natural or synthetic textile. In Figure 1, the

Patented Oct. 20, 1959 carpeting blank 10 has been inverted so that its front side faces downwardly, and its reverse side 12 is visible to the viewer. The reverse side of the carpeting blank 10 bears a plurality of sets of cutting lines designated A, B, C, D and B. Each set of cutting lines indicates portions of the blank 10 to be cut out whereby the blank will fit a particular automobile body style.

In actual practice set A of the cutting line could designate a two-door hardtop body style. Line B could designate a two-door sedan. Line C could designate a four-door sedan. Line D could designate a convertible, and line E could designate a four-door hardtop. These lines A through B may each be imprinted on the reverse side 12 in two or more difierent colors. Alternately, each line may be of a similar color but with its characteristics diflfering from the other lines. Thus, it will be observed that line A is solid, line B is formed of small dots, lines C and E are formed of two different combinations of dots :and dashes while line D is formed of a series of short dashes. In any event, it is only necessary that the various sets of lines be capable of clear difierentiation whereby they will indicate to the user which particular body style they represent.

Referring now to Figure 2, the carpeting blank 10 may conveniently be sold with certain cutting lines 14 common to each of the body styles already cut out. The particular set of cutting lines required for the particular automobile body style will then be cut out by the user. In the example shown in Figure 2 the user has cut out the blank 10 along the cutting lines A. After such procedure, the blank 10 will be ready for installation in the automobile. If desired the user may bind the edges of the cut out line after the cutting operation. Such binding, however, is optional.

It will be apparent that various modifications of the foregoing detailed description may be made without departing from the present invention. By way of example the cutting lines A through E could be imprinted solely on one-half of the carpeting blank 10. In such event the side of the blank bearing the cutting lines would first be cut out. Next, the blank could be folded upon itself and the opposite side thereof cut away using the cut-out portion of the blank as a guide.

Other modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A new article of manufacture, comprising: a sheet of carpet material having a front and a reverse side, said sheet being adapted to lie on the floor of an automobile with its front side exposed to view so as to define the floor mat of said automobile, the reverse side of said sheet bearing a plurality of sets of cutting lines, each set indicating portions of said sheet to be cut out whereby the resulting floor mat will fit a particular automobile body style.

2. A new article of manufacture, comprising: a sheet of carpet material having a front and a reverse side, said sheet being adapted to lie on the floor of an automobile with the front side exposed to view so as to define the floor mat of said automobile, the reverse side of said sheet bearing a plurality of sets of cutting lines having difiering characteristics, each such set of cutting lines thereby indicating portions of said sheet to be cut out whereby the resulting floor mat will fit a particular automobile body style.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,934,282 Telezerow Nov. 7, 1933 2,211,410 Du Pont Aug. 13, 1940 2,505,554 Kravitz Apr. 25, 1950 

